He'd sent Emersyn away with fucking Liam. Worse, she hadn't wanted to go, but we'd let her. It was better for her to be away from this, until we settled the shit between us. But it didn't sit well with me that of all the people to entrust her safety to, Milo picked Liam? Was he for fucking real right now?
"I told you," Kellan said, after his last two unsuccessful attempts to explain our choices. "We really didn't have a choice."
"And I told you I didn't believe that," Milo ground out. The last few years hadn't been kind to him. The last few months must have been worse. He seemed—different was too tame a word—changed. Like something fundamental within him had shifted. The dangerous intensity to him had always been present, tucked away, a lurking beast in the shadows that few, if any, ever saw. Milo was always the charming one, a predator in elegant disguise.
We saw him because we knew him. There was no missing the predator in him right now. No glossy surface to hide it or keep him shielded. One raw, exposed nerve.
Right now, that was my fault.
Milo folded his arms as his glare landed on me. For the last several hours, he'd avoided even looking at me. Doc had stitched the cut above my eye and checked my ribs, but there wasn't much we could do for them except let them heal. Though he'd offered me something for the pain, I declined.
"Can we have the room?" The rustle of discomfort shifting everyone in the room stilled at my request.
"Jas," Kellan began.
"I know," I said, holding up a hand to quell his argument. They were all aligned between me and Milo. Keeping us apart. Keeping him from killing me. "But we need to talk. This is between us."
Vaughn straightened. "Then I'm staying."
Freddie rose. "I'm good with leaving you guys to swing your dicks around. I love you both, but this shit is just making me hungry, horny, and desperate for a hit."
I cut a look at him. Despite the protests, Freddie's color was better than it had been in days. He wasn't hunching in on himself. But he was also not the type to dive into the conflict. Conflict between us always seemed to put him on edge. Not that I could blame him. When you came from the shattered remains of broken homes, whether they'd been good or bad, you didn't like it when your people fought.
"Go," I told Freddie. "But stay in the clubhouse."
"You got it, boss," he told me with a grin and then glanced at Milo. "Yeah—welcome back, man. We missed you and don't be so hard on Hawk. Boo-Boo's won us all over. We'd die for her, but I think she'd like it if we were alive long enough for her to kick our asses herself."
Fuck, he was not wrong there. The betrayal in her eyes when she'd looked at me. The gutted expression that broke through her veneer of self-control before she reasserted it. We'd done that.
I'd done that.
For hours, I'd had her in my arms and in my bed. I'd cupped fire in my palms, and she'd listened to me when I'd confessed a lot of my sins.
A lot.
Not all.
"Go on, Freddie." Milo's voice softened for the first time since Emersyn left. Kicking Freddie was a lot like kicking a dog. Thank fuck he'd remembered that.
Doc rose as Freddie flashed a peace sign and noped right the fuck out of the room and up the stairs. We'd have to check on him later. We'd already made a point of cleaning out his stashes. The only drugs left on the property was weed and I didn't care if he wanted to get stoned.
Fuck, I could go for getting stoned.
Then there were just six of us.
"I'm staying, too," Doc said after a long moment. "This involves all of us."
Kellan braced his hands on the back of the sofa behind me. Metaphorically and physically guarding my back. Considering our differences over the last few months and the fact he'd called it where Milo was concerned, I’d have understood if he’d refused to back me in this "I'm staying, too."
That just left Rome, who had taken a position leaning against the wall, arms folded. The careless pose was a total lie, but the stillness he could adopt often made people forget he was there. Even us. But we trusted Rome.
I trusted Rome.
Unlike his lying, traitorous and greedy fucking brother. The asshole who now had Emersyn completely to himself. Liam had a golden tongue when he wanted to, he could talk a saint into sin and seduce a thief into becoming patron. As strong and fierce as she was, Emersyn might just as easily fall for his lies.
He was more a part of her world than we'd ever been.
Then again—she didn't seem to want her world. Maybe that would protect her against Liam.
The urge to go to her and kick in the doors, then drag her off to be alone and in bed until I could earn her forgiveness, pulsed through me. I had a feeling it would take more than orgasms and donuts to win back her trust. But I'd fucking do it.
I'd fucking beg if I had to.
"Guys," I began, but Vaughn folded his arms. He stood almost directly between me and Milo.
"Shut it, Hawk. Milo's pissed at you for more than just bringing her here. He knows you guys were gone all night because we've been waiting and he's pretty damn sure you're fucking her." It came out crude, even in his voice.
A muscle ticked in Milo's jaw and I locked gazes with my best friend.
Yeah. I'd fucked my best friend's sister.
He was entitled to beat the shit out of me.
"The thing is," Vaughn continued as if unaware of the sudden rising tension between me and Milo. "You're not the only one, and you sure as hell weren't the first."
I knew that, but from the way Milo jerked, he hadn't. He swung that furious, accusing gaze at Vaughn who didn't blink as he met him glare for glare.
"Yeah, I've had her in my bed. I'll crawl through glass to get back in hers after this shit is settled."
Same, Brother. Same.
"I'm not fucking apologizing to you, either." The bluntness of the information pulled a laugh from me. Cause—really, I wasn't going to apologize for wanting her either.
"We shouldn't have to," Kellan said, shocking the shit out of me.
"The fuck you shouldn't," Milo snarled. "You goddamn well knew who she was."
"Yes," Vaughn countered. "We did and we kept our part of the promise. We've protected her and kept an eye on her while you were in prison. The moment she got here, we knew something was wrong. Hawk saw it before the rest of us did."
"So we fucking fixed it," I said, refusing to stay out of this particular defense. "The call to bring her back here was mine and mine alone. Kellan and Vaughn wanted to take her to a hospital and let her people take care of her."
"She doesn't trust her people." Doc joined the conversation, and I cut a look at him. "And for what it's worth Milo, she's not a baby anymore. I don't think she's been a child for a long, long time." The words held a kind of ominous note that sent a shiver of apprehension up my spine. She'd let that dick abuse her. She'd said that it was better than the alternative.
Some fucker who raped her was better than the alternative.
So what the fuck was up with the alternative?
"Goddammit, do you all want to fuck her?" Milo demanded and I sighed.